Sarasota group to make 12/12/12 mandala with sand from 50 countries

Jo Mooy and Patricia Cockerill are surrounded by bags of sand -- gathered from over 190 locales, 50 countries and six continents -- that they will combine to make a mandala on Lido Key on Wednesday as a peace offering to the world.

Published: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 3:36 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, December 11, 2012 at 3:36 p.m.

SARASOTA - Judi Cannon's charismatic sister, Barbara, died at age 30 in a freak apartment fire in 1984. Cannon's grieving mother clung to whatever keepsakes she could recover, all the way down to otherwise meaningless receipts.

When mom passed away last year in Washington, D.C., survivors sifting through her possessions found a tiny bag of sand. Marked but forgotten, it had belonged to Barbara. She brought it back from Mombassa, Kenya, as a reminder of an illuminating trip to Africa in 1972 that opened her eyes to larger possibilities.

Forty years later, at sundown Wednesday, Cannon will be at south Lido Key beach to watch a portion of her sister's little African treasure vanish into the sea. The occasion is calendrical — 12/12/12 — during which many across the globe will bid a ceremonial farewell to the last triple-number date of the 21st century.

“I knew, as soon as I got it, that this needed to go to Jo, that this is something Barbie would want,” Cannon said.

“Jo” is Sarasota artist Jo Mooy, who has been soliciting and collecting sand for the event for the last five years. From plastic baggies to cigar boxes, the stuff has poured in from 190 locales in 50 countries across six continents, often from sites considered sacred.

Cambodia's Angkor Wat, Peru's Macchu Picchu, from Maori land in New Zealand to the Maya ruins of Copan and a Buddhist monastery in Tibet — each contribution comes with a personal story. Coupled with colored commercial sands with which they will ultimately be stirred, the entire inventory weighs in at roughly 135 pounds.

Wednesday around the 5:37 p.m. sunset, after having been meticulously arranged into a rainbow-hued mandala on the beach — the entire load will be swirled together and emptied into the Gulf of Mexico.

“Twelve is a sacred number,” says Mooy, who will complete the ritual with Women's Meditation Circle co-founder Patricia Cockerill and anyone else who wants to participate. “Whether your reference is the Bible or the Vedic texts, from the 12 apostles to the 12 signs of the Zodiac, the number 12 is a union, a community.”

The cross-cultural symbol of union has triggered a run on hotel and restaurant bookings as lovers from Bulgaria to Hong Kong exchange marriage vows.

Wedding planners in Kuala Lumpur are reporting a “record number” of clients, and a Singapore marriage planning firm said, “It is a hot date.”

Closer to home, enthusiasm for tying the 12/12/12 knot has been muted by its midweek conjunction, says Daylen Remus, who specializes in Florida destination weddings for A Wedding Dream in Paradise. Had it fallen on a weekend, as did 10/10/10, bookings would likely have gone through the roof.

As Remus points out, “It's not going to happen again in our lifetime.”

Or at least not for 89 years, on Jan. 1, 2101, or 01/01/01. Which explains why people from so far away have been so eager to connect with the Lido Key ritual, if only from afar.

“The response has been really interesting — you never know what to expect,” says Mooy. “I've had sand suddenly appear in the mail from Alaska.”

The culmination of this five-year project will begin Wednesday at noon, when Mooy, Cockerill and others will begin constructing the sand “mandala” — the ancient Sanskrit word for circle. Building on Mooy's own original, two-foot diameter mandala painted into a wooden platform, participants will use the donations to cover and extend the patterns outward, roughly six feet in diameter.

Meditations will commence at 4 p.m., followed by the emptying of the platform sands into the ocean at dusk. Afterwards, visitors are invited to scoop up the remaining world sands for mementos.

“We want the world represented in this mandala, and the different colors and textures of the grains reflect the diversity of our planet,” Mooy said.

Undoing, within a matter of moments, an ornate design that took hours to complete by churning them together is the critical part of the ritual.

“We honor the diversity in the oneness that we are, but the universe doesn't see that separation, so we sweep it together and release it to the sea,” Mooy said. “Water is an emotional carrier, and the currents will carry the blessings of the ceremonies around the world.”

Given the continuing violence in the Middle East and the economic tremors that have rocked so many institutions and nations, it might seem as if the Lido Key offering would be a futile exercise. But Cockerill is optimistic that, with worldwide meditations scheduled for 12/12/12, a shift of consciousness is inevitable and already under way.

“We'll have a ‘Seeds of the Future' meditation in which we ask people to visualize and hold the future they wish to see, and to commit to bringing it into fruition,” she says. “The world is changing, and I think more and more people will tire of war. The seed we plant will eventually push its way into the sunlight.”

For Judi Cannon, a domestic violence survivor, the sand ritual offers a chance to turn an interior transformation into active engagement with the world's many “silver linings.”

“You can drive yourself into the ground, or you can realize there's something far more amazing going on,” Cannon says as she prepares to relinquish a teaspoon-sized token of her sister's memory.

“I think it's important to remember that feeling you get when you're in love. You can create that. Fabulous things open up when you're in love. The world gets pretty magical when that happens.”

<p><em>SARASOTA</em> - Judi Cannon's charismatic sister, Barbara, died at age 30 in a freak apartment fire in 1984. Cannon's grieving mother clung to whatever keepsakes she could recover, all the way down to otherwise meaningless receipts.</p><p>When mom passed away last year in Washington, D.C., survivors sifting through her possessions found a tiny bag of sand. Marked but forgotten, it had belonged to Barbara. She brought it back from Mombassa, Kenya, as a reminder of an illuminating trip to Africa in 1972 that opened her eyes to larger possibilities.</p><p>Forty years later, at sundown Wednesday, Cannon will be at south Lido Key beach to watch a portion of her sister's little African treasure vanish into the sea. The occasion is calendrical — 12/12/12 — during which many across the globe will bid a ceremonial farewell to the last triple-number date of the 21st century.</p><p>“I knew, as soon as I got it, that this needed to go to Jo, that this is something Barbie would want,” Cannon said.</p><p>“Jo” is Sarasota artist Jo Mooy, who has been soliciting and collecting sand for the event for the last five years. From plastic baggies to cigar boxes, the stuff has poured in from 190 locales in 50 countries across six continents, often from sites considered sacred.</p><p>Cambodia's Angkor Wat, Peru's Macchu Picchu, from Maori land in New Zealand to the Maya ruins of Copan and a Buddhist monastery in Tibet — each contribution comes with a personal story. Coupled with colored commercial sands with which they will ultimately be stirred, the entire inventory weighs in at roughly 135 pounds. </p><p>Wednesday around the 5:37 p.m. sunset, after having been meticulously arranged into a rainbow-hued mandala on the beach — the entire load will be swirled together and emptied into the Gulf of Mexico.</p><p>“Twelve is a sacred number,” says Mooy, who will complete the ritual with Women's Meditation Circle co-founder Patricia Cockerill and anyone else who wants to participate. “Whether your reference is the Bible or the Vedic texts, from the 12 apostles to the 12 signs of the Zodiac, the number 12 is a union, a community.”</p><p>The cross-cultural symbol of union has triggered a run on hotel and restaurant bookings as lovers from Bulgaria to Hong Kong exchange marriage vows.</p><p>Wedding planners in Kuala Lumpur are reporting a “record number” of clients, and a Singapore marriage planning firm said, “It is a hot date.”</p><p>Closer to home, enthusiasm for tying the 12/12/12 knot has been muted by its midweek conjunction, says Daylen Remus, who specializes in Florida destination weddings for A Wedding Dream in Paradise. Had it fallen on a weekend, as did 10/10/10, bookings would likely have gone through the roof.</p><p>As Remus points out, “It's not going to happen again in our lifetime.”</p><p>Or at least not for 89 years, on Jan. 1, 2101, or 01/01/01. Which explains why people from so far away have been so eager to connect with the Lido Key ritual, if only from afar.</p><p>“The response has been really interesting — you never know what to expect,” says Mooy. “I've had sand suddenly appear in the mail from Alaska.”</p><p>The culmination of this five-year project will begin Wednesday at noon, when Mooy, Cockerill and others will begin constructing the sand “mandala” — the ancient Sanskrit word for circle. Building on Mooy's own original, two-foot diameter mandala painted into a wooden platform, participants will use the donations to cover and extend the patterns outward, roughly six feet in diameter.</p><p>Meditations will commence at 4 p.m., followed by the emptying of the platform sands into the ocean at dusk. Afterwards, visitors are invited to scoop up the remaining world sands for mementos.</p><p>“We want the world represented in this mandala, and the different colors and textures of the grains reflect the diversity of our planet,” Mooy said.</p><p>Undoing, within a matter of moments, an ornate design that took hours to complete by churning them together is the critical part of the ritual.</p><p>“We honor the diversity in the oneness that we are, but the universe doesn't see that separation, so we sweep it together and release it to the sea,” Mooy said. “Water is an emotional carrier, and the currents will carry the blessings of the ceremonies around the world.”</p><p>Given the continuing violence in the Middle East and the economic tremors that have rocked so many institutions and nations, it might seem as if the Lido Key offering would be a futile exercise. But Cockerill is optimistic that, with worldwide meditations scheduled for 12/12/12, a shift of consciousness is inevitable and already under way.</p><p>“We'll have a 'Seeds of the Future' meditation in which we ask people to visualize and hold the future they wish to see, and to commit to bringing it into fruition,” she says. “The world is changing, and I think more and more people will tire of war. The seed we plant will eventually push its way into the sunlight.”</p><p>For Judi Cannon, a domestic violence survivor, the sand ritual offers a chance to turn an interior transformation into active engagement with the world's many “silver linings.”</p><p>“You can drive yourself into the ground, or you can realize there's something far more amazing going on,” Cannon says as she prepares to relinquish a teaspoon-sized token of her sister's memory.</p><p>“I think it's important to remember that feeling you get when you're in love. You can create that. Fabulous things open up when you're in love. The world gets pretty magical when that happens.”</p>